Mass Effect: Decimation
by CowboyAndy
Summary: An AU look at 'Mass Effect 3'. Now 100% free of any or all 'Star-children!
1. Introduction

**[Author's note: I've done a bit of writing and RPing in the past, but only posted one other story. After playing and finishing Mass Effect 3, I felt inspired to publish something else. ****Now I love the Mass Effect series, starting years ago when the first game came out. But Mass Effect 3 left me wondering 'what if?' regarding a lot of characters and plots. 'Decimation' is my own AU take on ME3. Let me know what you think. ] **

**-1.1-Kar'Shan-**

The growl of a varren jolted Commander Shepard awake. Lying prone on a cold cement floor, Shepard met the hungry gaze of the beast. A chain lease tied around the varren's neck was the only thing that kept it from pouncing on Shepard. The leash was held by a humanoid – in the darkness of the cell, all Shepard could make out was a pair of legs behind the varren.

Shepard tried moving. No luck. He reached down to feel a similar chain leash wrapped around _his _neck. The tight leash had left welts where it rubbed hard against his skin. As soon as he touched the leash, another humanoid pulled on it, hard.

"On your feet, human!" A not-quite human voice growled. If not human, than what was it...?

_Great, a Batarian_. Shepard grumbled once he figured it out.

Groggily, Shepard stood up. He moved too slow for the Batarian, who pulled Shepard by the chain. Once Shepard stood up, he looked back down at the varren. The varren growled at Shepard, and licked it lips.

"We would have fed you to the beasts already." The Batarian holding Shepard's chain said.

"But for what you did to us? The Hegemony will make sure you suffer." The other Batarian, holding the varren's chain, added.

"I'm sorry... for what happened..." Shepard rasped out. His mouth felt lined with sandpaper "I had... to choose make a choice..."

"You chose to slaughter our people!" The first Batarian yelled, and punched Shepard in the stomach. "It's too late for excuses!"

Shepard doubled over in pain, landing hard on his knees. The Batarians snickered at the sight at first. But when Shepard started to weakly laugh, they got angrier. The Batarian holding Shepard's chain grabbed him by the shirt collar and lifted him back to his feet.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"It's too late... for everyone." Shepard said weakly. "The Reapers are coming."

Unsure of how to respond, the Batarian instead snarled at the second guard "get him out of here!"

The second Batarian walked up to Shepard, and flung a black hood over his head.


	2. Chapter 1 Part 1

**-1.2-Kar'Shan-**

After being pushed and shoved for minutes in darkness, Shepard was forced down into a seat. The black hood was pulled off his head. Looking around, Shepard saw he was in a smaller room. The furnishings in it were two chairs and a desk in between. One sole light hanging from the ceiling illuminated the room. This was probably an interrogation room, he surmised. The dried blood stains and claws marks on the desk further proved that.

A single Batarian behind the desk paced back and forth. The Batarian behind Shepard shuffled his feet, and coughed nervously.

"You are dismissed." The Batarian in front of Shepard said. The other Batarian quickly left.

The Batarian continued to pace – Shepard could feel his eyes watching him. Neither spoke a word. Shepard could hear the hum of activity behind him, in the other room. Pairs of voice were talking, some loudly. They sounded confused – like something unexpected had happened. Shepard assumed they were probably dealing with the effects of what happened in the Bahak System.

_When there still was a Bahak System_, Shepard ruefully thought. He tried to shake the thoughts out of his head.

Finally, after minutes of silence, the Batarian spoke up. He turned his omni-tool on, and read a from a data file on it.

"Commander Adrian Jonathan Shepard." The Batarian hissed out. "Known as 'John' or 'AJ' Shepard. The First Human Spectre. No, wait - now make that the first _disgraced _Human Spectre. Hah. Quite an accomplishment."

"What do you want?" Shepard said bluntly.

"Born on Earth, orphaned at an early age." The Batarian ignored Shepard, and continued to read from the data file. "You grew up with a gang of fellow hoodlums, the Tenth Street Reds. At 18, you enlisted with the Alliance." The Batarian looked up at Shepard. "Trading one groups of savages and murderers for another?"

Shepard said nothing in reply.

"It's a shame about Akuze." The Batarian smugly added. "If those Thresher Maws had only killed you too, everyone in the Bahak system would still be alive today."

"You son of a bitch!" Shepard hoarsely yelled back, and got to his feet - slower than he thought he could move. His treatment by the Batarians had left him weak and dehydrated. As Shepard stood up, the Batarian pulled out a pistol, aiming it dead center in Shepard's chest.

_Stupid_, Shepard thought. _He was goading you all along._

The Batarian moved closer to Shepard, and kept the gun aim at Shepard's chest. In the light, Shepard could better see the Batarian's face.

Balak's furrowed brow and curled lips showed signs of the rage he was holding back. Everything etched in his face showed that he wanted to shoot Shepard right there. But something we keeping him from firing.

"No." Balak hissed out. "You don't get to act angry. Not after you, and those other humans working on your _supposed_ project, committed that atrocity. Against _my _people."

"I've already explained, Balak." Shepard said, his voice dry. "I was trying to stop the Reapers. They were going to use the Alpha Relay to invade."

"So you claim, without a shred of hard evidence." Balak replied. "Meanwhile, I have 300,000 lives, ended in seconds, that prove you otherwise."

"Don't you dare act high and mighty to me." Shepard said. "Your attack on Terra Nova-"

"Was merely a response to Humanity's collective greed." Balak cut in. "A few humans died for the sake of my entire people. I regret none of it."

"Then I guess that makes us both monsters." Shepard said, and then clenched his teeth.

"Perhaps." Balak replied "But I'm the one with a gun."

Before anything else could be said, the room shook with a heavy rumble. Seconds passed, and a new series of new rumbles burst forth. The violent quakes sent both Shepard and Balak stumbling to the floor, as dust and small cement particles fell from the ceiling.

Balak's pistol fell between both men. Shepard and Balak looked at each other for a split second, and then jumped towards the pistol. Balak grabbed the pistol first, his attention set on the gun. As Balak lifted the gun, Shepard tackled him back to the floor. With Balak on the ground stomach first, Shepard leaped on to Balak's back. From there, Shepard dropped one knee on Balak's neck, putting all of his body weight there. Balak still had his hand on the gun.

"A gun won't do you much good," Shepard said between gasps for breath "with a broken neck. Now drop it."

Balak nodded in response, and let go of the gun.

While the two had been fighting, Balak's omni-tool had been beeping steadily. The beeping had now gotten louder and more frequent. An emergency.

"Answer it." Shepard ordered. Balak did so.

It was a recording. A frightened Batarian was on the line.

_"They came out of nowhere!"_ He yelled _"We're being flanked by ground forces, and-"_

The Batarian was cut off by a deep, ear-shattering buzz. The recording went dead after that.

"The Reapers." Shepard said quietly. "They're arrived."


	3. Chapter 1 Part 2

**-1.3-**

"Bullshit!" Balak yelled. The shaking and loud explosions continued above them. The voices in the room behind them had gotten more frantic – orders being given, guns loaded, and plans made. A base klaxon started to ring off and on.

Even with chaos descending on them, Balak needed more convincing.

Shepard said, "Go through your other comms, and see what you pick up."

Balak grunted as he fiddled with the omni-tool – different variables of static came out of it as Balak tried to find an open comm line. The batarian swore under his breath as he hoped someone, _anyone_, would answer. Most replies he got back were automated attack warnings. A few others had sounds of gunfire and fighting.

"This… this doesn't make sense!" Balak said in disbelief. "Your damn Alliance must have followed us when you gave yourself up."

"Your ships threatened to destroy the Normandy, unless I went with you." Shepard angrily corrected him. "I wouldn't have let my crew follow us."

_And I know how ruthless you Batarians can be_. Shepard privately thought.

"…Fine. Then I have to get to my men. Take the fight to those Reaper bastards." Balak grumbled, and tried to sit up. Shepard pressed harder against Balak's neck.

"No, we need to escape Kar'Shan." Shepard replied.

"What?"

"Turn your comm back on again."

Balak pressed a button on his omni-tool, and the static from before blared out again. Now there were no more automatic warnings, no sounds of fighting. All that was left was static.

"The Reapers are strong – too strong for one race." Shepard said, trying to hold back his anger. It was hard to not to feel for Balak, despite his crimes. Kar-Shan was falling. Immediately, that made Shepard think of Earth – he tried to ignore it.

"Allies?" Shepard asked.

"…fine." Balak replied. "This bunker is one level underground. There's an elevator close by that will take us top-side. On the surface are a few Kodiak shuttles. It's not much, but it'll get us off-world. And I hold on to the gun. Now get off me!"

"Then give me the omni-tool. I'll need a weapon too". Shepard demanded, putting more weight on his knee for effect.

"Fine." Balak said. Shepard heard Balak mutter under his breath 'damned engineers' while he took off his omni-tool. Slowly, Balak handed it to Shepard. Shepard grabbed the omni-tool from Balak and then placed it on his left hand.

Shepard then got off of Balak, quickly moving away from the Batarian. He began to hack the omni-tool, stripping safeguards and defense programs on it. He kept his eyes on Balak, though, as the Batarian picked up the pistol. Balak checked the heat-sink already loaded, and then installed a disruptor ammo clip on the gun. The clip attached to the side of the gun, and would now let it fire electrically charged shots.

Both Balak and Shepard finished modifying their weapons around the same time. When Shepard was done, the omni-tool could now use Overload and Cryo-Blast. It wasn't the same as having his gun and combat drone, but it would work for now.

"Here." Balak said, and tossed Shepard a flask of water. Shepard quickly drank it down. "Now let's move."

Balak then opened the door into the next room. Silence. Whatever Batarian guards stationed there moments ago were gone. The wide room led into a narrow hallway – the double doors leading into the hallway had been left open.

Carefully, the two men made their way to the open doors. Shepard took the lead, holding his omni-tool out and aimed forward. The front of the tool crackled with ice, as Shepard keep a cryo-blast ready to fire. Balak stayed in the back, ready to fire his pistol.

Suddenly, a blue human… 'creature' darted past the open doorway. Then two followed. The pack of monsters growled lowly.

"Husks." Shepard quietly whispered. He turned to Balak, and motioned for him to turn right when they got the hallway. Shepard would go left.

The two soldier then moved into position.

In front of Shepard stood the pack of three husks. They were occupied with the corpse of a Batarian guard. Quickly, Shepard fired off a cryo-blast. The three husks were snap-frozen in the seconds. Shepard then switched the omni-tool to blade form, and started to shatter the frozen husks with it.

Balak found two other husks charging him. He fired off five rounds into the first husk, toppling it to the floor. The second husk Balak ran towards. In mid run, Balak swung the butt of his pistol into the husk's skull. It caved in part of the husk's skull. Another swing with the pistol splattered it's skull entirely.

Shepard turned around from his gruesome work to see Balak continually stomping the headless husk now on the ground. When Balak eventually turned to meet Shepard's gaze, he snarled at the Commander. _This could be you_, Shepard thought Balak's actions showed.

The two then ran down to the elevators at the end of the hallway. While they waited for the elevator cart to reach them, Balak's omni-tool went off again. Shepard lifted the tool up to Balak.

"Commander Balak!" The Batarian on the other hand yelled. "You're alive! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Balak replied, trying to sound calm. "Just give me a status report – what is the Hegemony's orders?"

"HQ's giving us all sorts of orders!" The Batarian said between gasps for breath. He was on the move. "Some are telling us to stay, others to leave. I'm ordering _my_ crew to get out of here!"

"What about civilians?" Balak asked. The elevator doors opened, and he and Shepard quickly stepped inside the cart. Before the elevator doors shut, Shepard and Balak could see another pack of husks running down the hallway.

The elevator doors shut. Silence came from the comm.

"What were the orders concerning civilians?" Balak demanded.

"…None, sir." The Batarian solemnly said. "Last I heard it was 'every man for himself."

Balak sighed in response, and rubbed his temples.

"Get in contact with all military vessels." Balak ordered "Protect civilian ships at all costs!"

"Are you crazy? Have you seen those things? We're leaving!" The Batarian yelled back. He then cut off communications with Balak. The line went dead.

"Gutless cowards." Balak growled out.

"You can't blame them for running." Shepard tried to calm him down "It's-"

"'Human' nature?" Balak asked "Do you think _your _people are doing any better than here?"

"Probably not." Shepard replied. " 'human' nature, after all."

Before they could talk longer, the elevator doors opened up. Outside, Shepard and Balak could see Reapers stalking the land far off, their lasers firing at local resistance. Fires raged in the distance.

Kar'Shan was burning.


End file.
